13.07.2018

Mas Oksana

Oksana Mas was born in 1969 in Ukraine.
Currently lives and works in Figueiras, Spain.

Oksana Mas is an artist, philosopher, humanist, urbanist, theorist and popularizer of contemporary art.
Oksana's works are sold at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips and are in museum and private collections such as the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Stella Art Foundation, BREUS Foundation, Joerg Bongartz Collection, Sorelouzos Family Art Museum, Capital Group Art Foundation, Ekaterina Foundation , collections of Victor Pinchuk and Viktor Bondarenko.

Oksana Mas was born in 1969 in Ukraine.
Currently lives and works in Figueiras, Spain.

Oksana Mas is an artist, philosopher, humanist, urbanist, theorist and popularizer of contemporary art.
She participated in the 54th Venice Biennale (with a solo project, represented Ukraine), in the 55th Venice Biennale, in the 65th Film Festival in Locarno, at the Biennale "Women and Art" in Sharjah, UAE, and in numerous international exhibitions: Art Basel Miami (Miami, USA), Frieze (London, UK), FIAC (Paris), ARCOmadrid (Madrid, Spain), The Armory Show (New York, USA), Art Dubai (Dubai, UAE).

Oksana's works are sold at Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips and are in museum and private collections such as the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Stella Art Foundation, BREUS Foundation, Joerg Bongartz Collection, Sorelouzos Family Art Museum, Capital Group Art Foundation, Ekaterina Foundation , collections of Victor Pinchuk and Viktor Bondarenko.

EDUCATION:

2019 — Master of Fine Arts, decorative art and restoration at Poltava National Technical University
2014 — Master's degree in philosophy at Odessa State University named after Mechnikov
2003 — Bachelor of Philosophy at Odessa State University named after Mechnikov
1992 — Odessa State School of Arts named after M.B. Grekov
1986 — Illichivsk School of Arts (Illichivsk, Odessa region, Ukraine)

PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS:

2019 — AMBIT. Galeria d’Art, Barcelona, Spain
2018 — Oksana Mas. Spiritual cities. Sotheby’s, Milan, Italy
2017 — Oksana Mas. Spiritual cities. Art Ukraine Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine
2017 — Oksana Mas. Spiritual cities. MA*GA Museum, Galarate, Italy
2017 — Oksana Mas. Spiritual Cities. Malpensa Airport, Milano, Italy
2017 — Gravity and glass. NK Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2015 — Oksana Mas. Get together. ArtFactory Istambul, Istanbul, Turkey
2014 — Oksana Mas. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Kazakhstan, Almaty
2013 — Renewal of the Sacred. House of the Nobleman, London, UK
2013-2011 — Biomorphic realism. Mironova Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine
2012, 2018 — Die Gestalt. TRIUMPH Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2012 — Black & White. Bengelsträter Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany
2012 — River Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia
2012 — Helium-3 and other Works. Barbarian gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
2012 — Barclays Bank, Zurich, Switzerland
2011 — Post-vs-Proto-Renaissance. Ukrainian Pavilion. 54th Venice Biennale, Italy
2010 — Helium-3. Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2010 — Retrospective. Casamor’s Foundation, Museo Dali de Figueras, Figeyras, Spain
2009 — When Stars Align. Zorya Fine Art Gallery, New York, USA
2009, 2008 — Mimesis Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
2008 — MAS. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
2007 — Hired to Dream. Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2006 — Assembly point. Gallery T. Ladyzhinsky, Odessa, Ukraine
2005 — Photo exhibition "The phenomenon of epidermism." Gallery "Karas", Kiev, Ukraine
2005 — Black and white reverse. RIS Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2004 — Oksana Mas. Odessa State Art Museum, Odessa, Ukraine
2003 — Oksana Mas. Museum of Western-Eastern Art, Odessa, Ukraine
2003 — Everyday Originality. Exhibition Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine
2002 — Oksana Mas. Center for Contemporary Art "Soviart", Kiev, Ukraine
2002 — The project "365". Central exhibition complex "Morvokzal", Odessa, Ukraine
2001 — Oksana Mas. Odessa State Art Museum, Odessa, Ukraine
1997 — Oksana Mas. Picture Gallery Valkenburg, Netherlands
1997 — Oksana Mas. M-Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
1997 — Oksana Mas. Museum of Fine Arts, Illichivsk, Ukraine
1995 — Oksana Mas. Museum of Fine Arts, Illichivsk, Ukraine
1995 — Oksana Mas. Central Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists, Kiev, Ukraine
1995 — Oksana Mas. UN Exhibition Hall in Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2020 — Cosmoscow Art Fair, Москва, Россия
2019 — AMBIT. Galeria d’Art, Barcelona, Spain
2018 — Oksana Mas Monostand at Shanghai Design Exhibition
2017 — Contemporary Istanbul. Monostand NK Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
2016 — COSMOSCOW 2016. Monostand of the International Heritage Art Gallery
2014 — 5th Biennale of female art "Women and Art". Museum of Modern Art, Sharjah, UAE
2013 — Project "Glasstress" at the 55th Venice Biennale. Venice, Italy
2013 — Art India. Mumbai, India
2013 — White Light / White Heat. Glasstress project for the 55th Venice Biennale. London, Great Britain
2013 — Pre-auction exhibition. Munich, Germany
2013, 2009 - Sotheby's pre-auction exhibition. London, Great Britain
2013 — Christie's Pre-auction Exhibition. London, Great Britain
2012 — MAS & PICASSO. Monte Carlo, Monaco
2012 — ViennaFair. Vienna, Austria
2013-2011 — Art Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, Germany
2011 — 54 Venetian Biennale. Venice, Italy
2011 — The Glory of Ukraine. International Meridian Center, Washington, USA
2010-2006 — ART Moscow. Moscow, Russia
2010 — ART Chicago. Chicago, USA
2010-2007 — Fiac. Paris, France
2010 — ARCO. Madrid, Spain
2010-2008, 2006 — Art Dubai. Dubai, UAE
2009 — The Armory Show. New York, USA
2013, 2011-2009 — ART Kiev. Kiev, Ukraine
2007 — The Movement. Evolution. Art. Cultural Foundation "Ekaterina", Moscow, Russia
2007, 2006 — Art Basel Miami. Miami, USA
2010, 2009, 2005 — Group exhibitions at the Aidan Gallery. Moscow, Russia
2005 — Moscow International Fair of Fine Arts. Manege, Moscow, Russia
1999 — Foundation of Russian Artists. Paris, France
1999 — Golden-Art-Gallery. Cologne, Germany
2000, 1998 — "Marine-2000" Biennale. Odessa, Ukraine
1997 — Hall Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1997 — Municipal Exhibition Hall, Maastricht, Netherlands
1996 — French Cultural Center, Kiev, Ukraine

SPECIAL PROJECTS:

2012 — Oksana Mas's project “The Phenomenon of Epidermism” won an independent critics prize at the 65th Locarno Film Festival
2011 — The unique mosaic group “Look Into Eternity”, consisting of 15,000 hand-painted Easter eggs, was donated and installed at the Hagia Sophia of Kiev Museum (XI century)
2011 — On the central avenue of Monte Carlo Henri Dunant, the works of the “Sphere of Good and Spiritual Renaissance” by Oksana Mas were installed. Prince Albert II of Monaco chose Oksana Mas's “Spheres of Good and Spiritual Revival” and Anish Kapoor mirrors for installation in Monte Carlo, Monaco

THEY ARE AMOUNG US

The biblical subtext is nearly omnipresent in contemporary art. It's the inertia of Christian civilization, which rules the sphere of sublime and symbolic. Attempts to link images to the Good Book are natural in cases where a dimension of timelessness is needed. Oksana Mas is also interested in the tension between mythology and image, and so she infuses her series "They are among Us" with biblical subtexts. The heroes of the series are common both for her work and the recreational urban spaces she scans to find the subjects for her paintings. Starting from the Renaissance the artist looks for a model to feature in his take on the biblical theme. Mas goes the other way round: her beloved scenes of rest and bliss are inscribed with biblical allusions. The series bear a stylistic resemblance to the base layer of paintings in the "Hired to Dream" series. Full-color paintings become more abstract, however, the contours wander, appear and disappear, and the forms tend to sphere in the style of Hans Arp or early Archile Gorky. Sometimes the paintings give an air of gothic glass-stained windows; the use of lacquer enforces that impression. The people and the space in paintings tend to be close in form and color intensity. The colors feel saturated, much like in decoratively rich paintings of Pierre Bonnard or Eduard Vuillard. One of the most memorable images of the series is called "God's Fool". It is an ageless person seated near a couple of young(ish) women. His facial features are erased in a manner of 1920s Malevich. In his depictions of kolkhoz workers, he searched for a formula to paint the body after abstraction. It seems that there has been a sacral subtext at work also: Malevich wanted to find an ideal type. This type was not to be depicted with the help of individualization and other realistic techniques. Mas has other reasons to "forget" the facial features. Biblical heroes emerge anonymously; they converge with the fabric of the outside world. Otherwise Mas' narrative would come too close to be particular, and the images would fall prey to endless references to iconography of the past. Plus, Mas is not a witness to a miracle, but simply arranges the constellations of matter "by the Book", according to an overused mythology. It's not surprising then, that some compositions are taken whale from other series by Mas. Acouple reclining on the grass is, of course, "Hired to Dream". Pigeons, as always, make reappearance, but Mas is reluctant to let them play roles from the Bible. As ever, the space of Mas' paintings is more readily associated with the subject of "Rest on the Flight to Egypt", and if the depicted people are close to revealing their biblical selves, their actions are bound to be as peaceful as the atmosphere that surrounds them.

Text Valentine Djakonov

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS: